Saturday, October 20, 2018

The Best Food Processors For Every Budget

If you do any serious cooking, a good quality food processor is a critical addition to your kitchen on account of its versatility and time-saving tricks. So, we’ve looked at the best food processors you can buy, no matter what your needs are.

The food processor isn’t quite the heart of the kitchen (that’s your cooker or oven), but it is a vital component. A certain amount of mixing and chopping and slicing can be done manually, but the results are rarely the same to if you do it through a food processor. For instance, there’s a noticeable difference to how cookies look, depending on if you’ve manually mixed or used a food processor. It’s good to have both options. If nothing else, the “lazy” route is always to toss everything into the food processor and let electricity do all the hard work for you.

Food processors vary significantly in cost and features, so we’ve checked out the best food processors for every price range and requirement.

Best All-Rounder: Cuisinart Pro Custom 11-Cup Food Processor ($130)

The perfect size for a family kitchen, the Cuisinart Pro Custom 11-Cup Food Processor is near flawless. The food processor has room for 11 cups of produce, so you can easily use it to make dough, shred vegetables or herbs, or mix batters. It includes a chopping blade, three slicing and shredding discs, along with a spatula.

Unusual for a food processor, there’s a fairly long feed tube so you can feed in large items like carrots or zucchinis without any hassle. It’s ideal for whatever you throw its way, and is sure to become a key part of your kitchen and cooking prep.

Best Budget Choice: Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Food Processor ($50)

If you’ve just moved into your first home or you’re new to cooking, you don’t want to spend a ton of cash on a food processor. Some cheap food processors are pretty lousy but the Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Food Processor holds its own at a good price. It’s big enough to contain 12 cups of produce with a stainless steel blade chopping, mixing and pureeing. In addition, there’s a reversible stainless steel slicing and shredding disc that does exactly what the name suggests.